Why Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Was Upgraded

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Illinois Tool Works (ITW) was upgraded to "outperform" from "market perform" by BMO Capital Wednesday.

Illinois Tool gained 0.5% to $79.44.

The price target for the company was set at $100, up from the previous $88. BMO Capital notes that Illinois Tool offers low-risk growth with the potential for high returns.

"We are raising our rating to Outperform as the evolving implementation of ITW's enterprise strategy is really in the early stages of unfolding. The full benefits are not expected until 2017, making ITW a very low-risk way to see amplified returns in a relatively slowly growing industrial landscape," analysts Joel Tiss and Richard Carlson wrote.

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Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS as a Buy with a ratings score of A. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS (ITW) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, notable return on equity, expanding profit margins, solid stock price performance and good cash flow from operations. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income."